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Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds



appearance. I saw several tame birds and very delightful pets they

make, and I know of no more charming addition to one’s collection of

waterfowl.


I do not think that it has ever been imported into this country.

I had hopes of bringing some back but was disappointed at the last

minute, though I still have hopes of being able to get some.


The Rifleman (Acanthisitta choris)


I first made the acquaintance of this feathered mite in the dense

alpine scrub on the slopes of Mount Tongariro.


When wandering in search of birds near the snow-line almost at

the very limit of the vegetation, I came across a man who was working

on a new road, and in talking to him about the birds, he asked me if

I could tell him the name of a bird no larger than the first joint of his

thumb. I knew that this must be the Rifleman and sure enough in

a few minutes after leaving him one of these feathered sprites came

up within a foot or two of my face and chattered and scolded.


Afterwards I found them quite common up to the limit of the

vegetation on the mountain. Quite fearless and intensely inquisitive

they spend their time running up and down the trunks and limbs of

the lichen-covered trees in search of minute insects on which they

entirely subsist. Extremely active, they never rest for a minute except

when they come to examine a stranger in the “ bush ”. All the time

they utter a thin, shrill, scolding note.


In size these tiny creatures are about half the bulk of the English

Wren, but look larger than they really are because they usually keep

their feathers puffed out and their wings outspread.


The Rifleman does not seem so common in the low areas as in the

more mountainous regions. I found it excessively plentiful in the

beech forests of the North Island, ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 feet.

In the Waikaremoana forests it was very abundant between 2,500

and 3,000 feet, but I think it must make a migration to lower altitudes

in the winter time, for in those parts the cold is very severe and in mid¬

winter there are several feet of snow.


The presence of the Rifleman can at once be detected by the shrill



